Method for packing two or more articles of different shape and packing mat

ABSTRACT

[Problem] To hold in a fixed position and pack two or more articles of different shapes made of different materials. 
     [Solution Means] Two or more articles having different shapes are packed by using a mat  1  filled with a large number of beads  4  evenly over the entire surface. Two or more articles are wrapped in the mat  1,  the inside of the mat  1  is deaerated, the large number of beads  4  in the mat  1  gather and are brought into close contact with each other, the mat  1  solidifies along the outer diameter shapes of the articles, and each article is supported at, at least three points by portions of the solidified mat  1  so that the respective articles are held at fixed positions.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method for packing articles,specifically, two or more articles of different shapes made of differentmaterials, and a packing mat to be used for the method.

BACKGROUND ART

When transporting an article, in order to effectively protect thearticle from shocks and vibrations that may be applied thereto duringtransportation, normally, the article is packed by using paper or aplastic sheet with shock absorbing properties or a bubble wrap, and thencontained in an outer case, if necessary. Similarly, when transportingtwo or more similar articles, each article is wrapped individually inwrapping paper or a buffer material and contained in an outer case, andpacked upon filling a filler to prevent the articles from moving ifnecessary.

The packing procedures are basically the same even when two or morearticles different in shape, weight, size, and material from each otherare packed together. As for articles, a combination of two or morearticles may constitute one system. For example, a desktop personalcomputer is configured as one system by combining, normally, articles(equipment in this case) such as a modem for network configuration and amouse, etc., as an external input device in addition to a personalcomputer main body, a keyboard, a display, and a printer.

When the desktop personal computer in use thus combined as one systemneeds to be transported to a different location because of a move,first, wiring cables connecting the equipment including the personalcomputer main body, the keyboard, the display, and the printer aredisconnected from the equipment, and individually packed on anequipment-to-equipment basis and transported to and unpacked at thelocation of a new address, and the equipment is set up again in theoriginal layout and the wiring cables between the equipment arere-connected.

Recently, by reason that such rewiring is troublesome or a user is abeginner and unaccustomed to this work and does not know how to connectthe disconnected wiring cables, carriers have been requested to carry apersonal computer set as is, that is, without disconnecting the wiringcables connecting the personal computer main body, the keyboard, thedisplay, and the printer from these pieces of equipment.

Carriers have conducted various considerations to satisfy this request.The problem is that although the set of equipment can be contained inone outer case without disconnecting the wiring cables, the sizes,heights, and shapes of the personal computer main body, the keyboard,the display, and the printer are different from each other, so that itis difficult to secure these pieces of equipment in a case toeffectively protect them from possible shocks and vibrations appliedduring transportation.

Packing of a product and two or more articles (equipment) as componentsof the product in one case in a secure manner is conventionallyperformed and not necessarily rare. For example, articles such as alaptop, a battery, a drive disk, cables, and an operation manual, etc.,are usually packed in one case so as not to move.

In Patent document 1, a package capable of containing a digital cameraand a battery charger together in one package without interference witheach other is described. According to the package described in Patentdocument 1, an effect in which a digital camera and a battery chargercan be protected from shocks applied from the outside duringtransportation is emphasized.

However, specifically, this package has two containing sections formedby dividing the inside of an outer case by an exclusive partition andarticles are individually contained in the respective sections, and abuffer section injected with air is provided separately from thecontaining sections to protect the articles from shocks applied from theoutside during transportation, and the articles are not secured at fixedpositions when they are packed, and free packing of two or more articleswhile being connected to each other regardless of whether their formsare standard or nonstandard is not realized.

A packing device consisting of a combination of a packing case capableof changing its internal capacity by combining a first packing case anda second packing case and fitting bodies disposed in the first andsecond packing cases respectively, is described in Patent document 2 asone attempt to pack articles in a case in a secure manner although it isnot an example of packing two or more articles together.

Here, the fitting body is formed by combining a bag body having adeaeration port and a large number of granular bodies that are filled inthe bag body and gather in a close contact state with each other andsolidify according to deaeration. According to this packing device, anarticle to be packed, for example, a jar is inserted between the firstpacking case and the second packing case, these packing cases arebrought relatively closer to each other to reduce the internal capacityto support the jar, and the packing cases are further brought closer toeach other, by deaerating air from the bag body and the fitting bodiesare brought into close contact with the surfaces of the bottom and themouth of the jar and solidify, and accordingly, the jar is secured andpacked in the packing case.

This attempt utilizes a phenomenon in which granular bodies filledinside the bag body come into close contact with each other according todeaeration of the inside of the bag body and the fitting bodies solidifywhile being deformed along the shape of the jar, and although the jar iseventually secured inside the packing case, the contained article isonly partially supported by the fitting bodies, and the containedarticle is recognized as being secured at a fixed position by a force topress the first packing case against the second packing case. Theinternal capacity of the packing case is determined by the height of thecontained article, so that this attempt is not applicable to packing oftwo or more articles with different heights.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No.2008-74451 Patent Document 2: Japanese Published Unexamined PatentApplication No. 2001-163361 DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problem to beSolved by the Invention

A problem to be solved by the invention is that no packing material canfreely pack two or more articles while being connected to each otherregardless of whether the forms of the articles are standard ornonstandard.

Means for Solving the Problem

As a main feature of the present invention, by utilizing a phenomenon inwhich granular bodies filled inside a bag body come into close contactwith each other according to deaeration of the inside of the bag bodyand the bag body solidifies as a whole, a bag-shaped mat in which beadsare filled and closely sealed is processed, and the mat solidifies bydeaeration of the inside of the mat in a state where articles arewrapped in the mat, and accordingly, the two or more articles wrapped inthe mat are stably held.

Effects of the Invention

According to a packing mat of the present invention, not only can two ormore articles be packed together at a time, but also two or morearticles can be packed in a state where the individual packed articlesare stably held at fixed positions by deformation of the mat due todeaeration of the inside of the mat and close contact and solidificationof beads inside the mat. In particular, regardless of differences inshape, size, height, and material among two or more articles, thearticles can be packed together, and in addition, the two or morearticles can be packed while being connected to each other.

The packing mat of the present invention entirely solidifies whilepacking two or more articles, so that it can be transported as is, andin addition, when the packing mat packing the articles must betransported as a standard pack, some filler can be filled and containedin an outer case and transported.

In particular, according to the present invention, in the case of amove, it is not necessary to disconnect wiring cables connected betweenequipment such as a personal computer main body, a keyboard, a display,and a printer, etc., from these pieces of equipment, and the equipmentcan be packed together and transported while the wiring cables are leftconnected to the equipment, and after the move, the mat is unpacked andthe equipment is taken out from the mat and arranged in the originallayout on a desk and connected to a power supply, and accordingly,operation of the personal computer can be restarted immediately.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1( a) is a plan view, FIG. 1( b) is a sectional view along the Y-Yline of FIG. 1( a), and FIG. 1( c) is a sectional view along the X-Xline of FIG. 1( a), showing an embodiment of a packing mat of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of a set of equipment of a personalcomputer to be packed.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a state where the set of equipment of thepersonal computer is placed on the packing mat.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state where the back surface of the set ofequipment of the personal computer placed on the packing mat is covered.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a state where the back surface and frontsurface of the set of equipment of the personal computer placed on thepacking mat are covered, and showing procedures of deaeration of theinside of the packing mat.

FIG. 6 is a partially sectional view showing a state where the inside ofthe packing mat is deaerated, and the set of equipment of the personalcomputer is held at fixed positions on the packing mat by the solidifiedmat.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a state where portions of thesolidified packing mat enter gaps between the equipment and secures theequipment.

FIG. 8 is a partially sectional perspective view showing another exampleof the packing mat.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   1: Mat-   1 a: Edge-   1 b, 1 c, 1 d, 1 e, 1 f: Solidified portion of mat-   2: Outer layer sheet-   3: Inner layer sheet-   4: Beads-   5: Check valve-   6: Protective cover-   7: Peripheral edge-   8: Bag-   9: Section-   10: Shape retaining plate-   11: Personal computer main body-   12: Keyboard-   13: Mouse-   14: Display-   15: Evacuation pump-   21: Mat-   22: Outer layer sheet-   23: Inner layer sheet-   24: Beads-   25: Check valve-   26: Peripheral edge-   P: Intersection-   S: Set of equipment

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

An object to pack two or more articles consisting of a combination oftwo or more pieces of equipment, such as a personal computer set,together, is achieved by using a bag-shaped mat in which beads arefilled and closely sealed.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1( a) to FIG. 1( c) are views showing an embodiment of a packingmat of the present invention. In FIGS. 1, a mat 1 is formed by layeringvertically two layer sheets of an outer sheet 2 and an inner sheet 3each with flexibility having square shapes, filling a large number ofbeads 4 between the sheets 2 and 3, hermetically sealing the peripheraledges 7 of the sheets 2 and 3 with a fixed width, and attaching a checkvalve 5 to a part of the sheet surface of the outer layer sheet 2.

In this embodiment, a thermoplastic polyurethane sheet or a vinylchloride sheet is used as the inner layer sheet 3, and as the outerlayer sheet 2, a thermoplastic polyurethane sheet, a vinyl chloridesheet, a flexible laminate film of metallocene-based orsingle-site-based polyethylene and EVA or EVOH, or sheet nylon 6, 66base cloth/thermoplastic urethane tarpaulin, nylon 6, 66 basecloth/vinyl chloride tarpaulin, or polyester base cloth/thermoplasticurethane tarpaulin, polyester base cloth/vinyl chloride is used.

The beads 4 must be filled without generating partial unevenness insidethe mat. In this embodiment, in order to avoid unevenness of a largenumber of beads over the entire surface, a breathable bag 8 made ofpolyester spunbond nonwoven fabric or nylon spunbond nonwoven fabric isdivided into several narrow and long bag-shaped sections, and each ofthe fixed equal amount of beads 4 are filled in the respective sections9 and the bag is inserted between the inner and outer layer sheets 2 and3 to form a mat with a flat external appearance.

The beads 4 are granular bodies of foamed polyethylene or foamedpolystyrene, and their particle diameters are not limited, however, theycan more sufficiently fit the shapes of articles as their particlediameters become smaller.

If necessary, between the outer layer sheet 2 and the bag 8 of the mat1, a shape retaining plate 10 that retains a fixed shape of the mat 1 isinterposed and stuck on the outer layer sheet 2, and the outer surfaceof the outer layer sheet 2 is covered by the protective cover 6. Thisembodiment shows an example in which the bag 8 is divided into fournarrow and long bag-shaped sections 9, however, the form of the bag 8and the number of sections are not especially limited. The unevenness ofbeads inside the mat 1 is reduced and the flatness of the mat 1increases as the number of sections increases, however, on the contrary,if the number of sections is excessively large, it becomes difficult tosolidify the mat along the shape of the article to be packed.

Next, procedures to pack two or more articles of different shapes byusing the packing mat 1 of the present invention will be described. FIG.2 shows a desktop personal computer set, that is, a personal computermain body 11, a keyboard 12, a mouse 13, and a display 14. In actuality,other equipment such as a printer, a scanner, and a modem are alsoconnected, however, for simple description, here, two or more articlesto be packed is equipment of a desktop personal computer, that is, acombination of a personal computer main body 11, a keyboard 12, a mouse13, and the display 14 in this example.

When a set of equipment including the personal computer main body 11,the keyboard 12, the mouse 13, and the display 14 must be collectivelytransported by reason of a move or the like, first, a mat 1 having asize necessary for wrapping the set of equipment is selected and spreadon the floor (not shown) by turning the surface of the inner layer sheet3 upward. Then, power supply wiring cables of the personal computer mainbody 11, the keyboard 12, the mouse 13, and the display 14 (hereinafter,referred to as a set S of equipment when the equipment is collectivelyreferred to) on a desk are unplugged from the power supply outlets, andwhile wiring cables connecting the equipment are left connected, the setS of equipment is placed on at least half of the surface of the mat 1 asshown in FIG. 3.

For transportation, it is desirable that the equipment is arranged asclose as possible so that it can be housed in a capacity as small aspossible, however, in the present invention, as conditions for securingand holding the set S of equipment, the layout and combination ofequipment rarely becomes a problem.

In this example, for easy understanding, the keyboard 12 is placedupward in front of the display 14 assuming an erect posture, and on oneside of the keyboard, the personal computer main body 11 is disposedlongitudinally. As a matter of course, this layout is a layout duringuse of the personal computer. That is, this example shows that the setof equipment can be transported in the usage state.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the edge 1 a of the remaining half of the mat1 on which the set S of equipment is not placed is lifted up and raisedalong the back surface of the set S of equipment to cover the uppersurface of the set S of equipment as shown in FIG. 5, and the edge 1 ais hung down over the front surface of the set S of equipment.Accordingly, both side surfaces of the set S of equipment are alsocovered by both edges of the mat.

In this state, the mat 1 is sufficiently fitted to the shape of the setS of equipment so that portions of the mat 1 enter gaps formed betweenthe set S of equipment. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5, an evacuationpump 15 is connected to a check valve 5 attached to a part of the outerlayer sheet 2 of the mat 1, and the evacuation pump 15 is manually orelectrically driven to evacuate the air from the inside of the mat 1.

As the air is evacuated from the inside of the mat 1, the mat 1contracts and reduces its internal capacity, and beads 4 filled insidethe mat 1 gather together along the shape of the set S of equipment inaccordance with contraction of the mat 1, and further fill up the gapsof the mat 1 and are restrained from freely moving, and the matsolidifies as shown in FIG. 6 while holding the set of equipment atfixed positions. The outer surface of the mat is kept comparativelyflat, and does not crease.

Generally, to hold a cubic article at a fixed position, the article mustbe supported at, at least three points. In this embodiment, by wrappingthe set S of equipment in the mat 1, at least three surfaces of thebottom surface, the upper surface, and the front surface, the backsurface, or one side surface or the other side surface of equipmentdisposed on the outer side of the set S of equipment are supported byportions of the surface of the solidified mat, and secured and held at afixed position.

At least the lower surface and the upper surface of equipment of the setS of equipment are supported by the mat even if the equipment isdisposed at the center of the set S of equipment, and in addition,portions of the lower surface or the upper surface of the mat are madeto enter gaps of the equipment, and accordingly, the mat comes intocontact with the article to be packed from three directions, and bydeaerating the inside of the mat, the three surfaces of the cube of thearticle are supported by portions of the solidified mat, so that the setS of equipment Wrapped in the mat is prevented from wobbling. Further,as long as the mat 1 is in contact with the surfaces of two or morepieces of equipment packed together, the mat 1 solidifies due todeaeration while being in contact with the surfaces of the equipment, sothat even if the heights of the equipment to be packed are differentfrom each other, each piece of equipment can be secured to the mat.

In FIG. 7, the bottom surface, the back surface, and the upper surfaceof the display 14 are held by the solidified mat 1, and by covering theupper surface of the display 14 by the mat 1, one side of the display isheld by the portion 1 b hung down sideward from the upper surface of thedisplay 14, and further, the other side is held by the portion 1 c ofthe mat 1 which has entered the gap between the personal computer mainbody 11 and the display 14 and solidified, and further, portions 1 d, 1e, and 1 f of the mat 1 are solidified while being arbitrarily raisedfrom below the equipment to hold the parts of equipment. The personalcomputer main body 11 is secured in the same manner. Specifically, thepersonal computer main body 11, the keyboard 12, the mouse 13, and thedisplay 14 constituting a personal computer set are stably held by thesolidified mat 1.

When the packing mat 1 of the present invention solidifies, for example,in the case where the portion placed on the floor or desk of the mat isdefined as the bottom surface, the mat becomes a cube having a sidesurface formed by a portion raised up and a ceiling surface formed by aportion folded laterally from the tip end of the side surface (when thetip of the ceiling surface is further folded downward, the foldedportion becomes a front surface), and solidifies, and in the presentinvention, the folded form of the mat is determined by itself accordingto the layout and combined shape of the articles to be packed.

When transporting, the mat in which the set S of equipment (two or morearticles) is packed can be loaded on a vehicle and transported as it isas a pack, however, when the mat must be set in a standard form, the matin which the set S of equipment (two or more articles) is packed may behoused in an outer case (not shown) with a standard form. In this case,the outer case must be filled with a filler to prevent the mat in whichthe set S of equipment (two or more articles) is packed from movinginside the outer case, and in this case, a small amount of filler isenough.

To unpack the pack at a transportation destination, by opening the checkvalve 5 attached to the mat 1 and introducing the outside air into theinside of the mat 1, the gathered state of the beads is ended, and themat 1 becomes soft and the packing wrapper can be freely opened. In thisstate, the mat 1 is opened and the set S of equipment is taken out fromthe mat, and the personal computer main body 11, the keyboard 12, themouse 13, and the display 14 are placed on a desk as they are, andsockets of the respective power supply wiring cables of these areinserted into outlets and supplied with power, and accordingly, thepersonal computer becomes ready for use immediately.

FIG. 8 shows another example of the packing mat. FIG. 8 is an example inwhich beads are directly filled between the inner and outer sheetswithout interposing a breathable bag therebetween. In this embodiment,polyurethane sheets are used as the inner layer sheet and the outerlayer sheet, however, polyethylene sheets or vinyl chloride sheets arealso usable.

In the present embodiment, a mat 21 is processed by layering two layersheets of the outer layer sheet 22 and the inner layer sheet 23vertically, directly filling a large number of beads 24 between bothsheets 22 and 23, and hermetically sealing the peripheral edges 27 ofboth sheets 22 and 23 with a fixed width, and in this embodiment, afterthe filled amount of beads 24 are uniformed inside the mat 21, bothsheets 22 and 23 are directly heat-welded together by a fixed size atimportant positions of both sheets 22 and 23, for example, intersectionsP (welding points) of longitudinal rows and lateral rows at fixedintervals as shown in the figure without generating partial unevenness.

The welding positions are not necessarily limited to the intersections Pof the longitudinal rows and lateral rows, and may be arranged so as tozigzag longitudinally and laterally, however, it is necessary that thesheets are welded in a regular manner at fixed intervals.

A check valve 25 is attached to a part of the sheet surface of the outerlayer sheet 22. Packing procedures for collective transportation of aset of equipment including a personal computer main body, a keyboard, amouse, and a display, etc., by using the mat 21 of the presentembodiment are exactly the same as in the above-described embodiment.That is, the mat 21 is spread on the floor (not shown) by turning thesurface of the inner layer sheet 23 upward.

Next, a set of equipment is placed on and wrapped in the mat 21 and theair inside the mat 21 is evacuated, and as the air is evacuated from theinside of the mat 21, the mat 21 contracts and reduces its internalcapacity, and the beads 24 filled inside the mat 21 gather togetheralong the shape of the set of equipment in accordance with contractionof the mat 21, and further, fill up gaps of the mat 21 and arerestrained from freely moving, and the mat 21 solidifies while holdingthe set of equipment at fixed positions.

In this embodiment, between welding points P and P adjacent to eachother, gaps are between both sheets 22 and 23, and although the gaps arecommunicatively connected to each other, the beads 24 filling up thegaps hardly move, so it is understood that it is not always necessary tobind the beads by the breathable bag as in the first embodiment. Insteadaccording to disuse of the bag for binding the beads, the pad is keptflexible, and fitting performance to the articles when the matsolidifies can be improved. In each embodiment described above, afastener to open and close may be attached to the edge of the mat in atwo-folded state.

The kinds and number of articles to be packed by using the packing matof the present invention are not limited at all. Therefore, the numberof articles to be packed can of course be one, however, the presentinvention is more effective when packing two or more articles togetherwhich are different in conditions such as shape, material, height, andsize, etc., while being left connected to each other.

Specifically, when packing a personal computer set, the mat not onlysolidifies along the shapes of hard cubes with fixed shapes of apersonal computer main body, a keyboard, and a display, but alsosolidifies in the same manner even if the articles are bendable likewiring cables for connecting equipment. For example, the mat solidifiesalong the shapes of the wiring cables one by one, and when the wiringcables are bundled, the mat solidifies along the shape of the bundle, sothat the wiring cables can be prevented from coming off the equipment orloosening during transportation as much as possible. By using thepacking mat of the present invention, articles can be stably held andpacked in the mat regardless of whether the articles to be packed arehard or soft.

Articles to be packed in the packing mat of the present invention are ofcourse not limited to a personal computer set, and may be furniture,fragile goods such as dishes, or a variety of articles such as clothesand papers, and two or more articles of these goods can be easily packedtogether and transported regardless of their shapes and materials.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The packing mat of the present invention can be widely used fortransportation of goods in moving or home delivery services,distribution of items from department stores and shops, andtransportation of articles and documents between factories and offices.

1. A method for packing two or more articles of different shapes byusing a mat filled with a large number of beads, comprising: wrappingtwo or more articles of different shapes in a mat, deaerating the insideof the mat, gathering and bringing the large number of beads inside themat into close contact with each other, solidifying the mat along outerdiameter shapes of the articles, at least bringing portions of the matinto contact with portions of the surfaces of each article to supportthree surfaces of a cube of each article, and holding the articles atfixed positions.
 2. The method for packing two or more articles ofdifferent shapes according to claim 1, wherein two or more articles ofdifferent shapes are held in the solidified mat while being connected toeach other.
 3. The method for packing two or more articles of differentshapes according to claim 1, wherein the mat follows the shapes of thetwo or more packed articles, and solidifies while being in contact withat least the bottom surface, the back surface or front surface, and theupper surface to hold each article at a fixed position.
 4. The methodfor packing two or more articles of different shapes according to claim3, wherein the two or more articles are held by portions of the matwhich has entered gaps between the articles and solidified.
 5. Themethod for packing two or more articles of different shapes according toclaim 1, wherein in the case where the portion placed on the floor ordesk of the mat is defined as the bottom surface, the mat becomes a cubehaving a side surface formed by a portion raised up and a ceilingsurface formed by a portion folded laterally from the tip end of theside surface, and solidifies, and the folded form of the mat isdetermined by itself according to the layout and combined shape of thearticles to be packed.
 6. A packing mat formed by combining an outerlayer sheet, an inner layer sheet, and beads, wherein the outer layersheet and the inner layer sheet are impervious sheets, and layeredvertically and their peripheral edges are hermetically sealed, the beadsare granular synthetic resin foamed bodies, and a large number of beadsare filled between the outer layer sheet and the inner layer sheetpreventing unevenness, the outer layer sheet and the inner layer sheetthe peripheral edges of which are sealed become a mat having a fixedthickness due to a layer of beads evenly filled, a check valve thatblocks discharge of air during deaeration is attached to a part of thesurface of the outer layer sheet, and according to deaeration, beadsgather and come into close contact with each other and the mat contractsand solidifies, the surface of the outer layer sheet is an outer surfaceof the mat which is not brought into contact with articles, and thesurface of the inner layer sheet is a surface for wrapping articles tobe packed, and by folding the mat, portions of the mat are brought intocontact with articles to be packed from three directions, and bydeaeration of the inside of the mat, three surfaces of a cube of eacharticle are supported and held at fixed positions.
 7. The packing mataccording to claim 6, comprising: a breathable bag between the outerlayer sheet and the inner layer sheet of the mat, wherein the bag isdivided into several bag-shaped sections, the fixed equal amounts ofbeads are filled in the respective sections to complete the externalappearance of the mat flat.
 8. The packing mat according to claim 7,wherein a shape retaining plate that retains a fixed form of the mat isinterposed between the outer layer sheet and the bag of the mat.